Day 4 of my 2023 drabble-a-day challenge! Here is today’s drabble:

A Time For Prayer

It was my turn. I solemnly waited while my cousin stood beside the coffin, and then took his place on the kneeler. I bowed my head as he silently closed the door.

Then I sat back, and took an Agatha Christie from my pocket. After thirty minutes my bum had gone to sleep, so I stood up, and stretched.

"I'm not being rude, Aunty," I joked. "I just know you didn't care for this stuff."

"I know, dear."

My aunt's voice. My atheist, rationalist, scientist aunt's voice; her eyes closed, her lips not moving.

I flung myself to my knees.

Earlier this year, I went to the Ghost Story festival in Derby (it was loads of fun! if you like writing ghost stories, you should totally go! and the museum it’s held in is a fabulous venue in its own right! see https://www.ukghoststoryfestival.co.uk/ for details). As part of a writing exercise, at one point a class tutor invited us to consider what we would do if “a man in Victorian attire walked in through the wall” right then and there.

Sitting in a well-lit room full of nice people, chatting about ghosts, it seemed completely implausible that any such arrival would be scary. I imagined my first response would have been along the lines of “errr, is this some sort of prank? how is everyone else reacting? how was that effect achieved?”

In reality, if I saw something incontrovertibly ghostly, I imagine my reaction would be much less calm. I imagine most people’s would